CCP Ep. #181: FFS by FFS [Franz Ferdinand, Sparks]

This week’s album adventures are brought to you by listener Mark H. who has suggested we dive into the acronymic namesake of a curious collaboration: Glasgow-based Franz Ferdinand & Los Angeles-based Sparks. Together, they form the “supergroup” called FFS, sporting a sole self-titled debut (FFS). Join us in this intensive analysis and share your thoughts! (We even throw in the bonus tracks to honor the FFS deluxe version.) True to form, we also take a few moments at the end to expand on Ep. #179‘s “Bonus Tracks” discussion by adding some thoughts and theories on the thematic applications of bonus tracks.

2 Comments:

Thanks for you review! It wasn’t my favorite album of last year, in fact I probably preferred previously reviewed albums Surf and VEGA Intl. Night School more, but it was one that I was quite curious as to what your reaction to it would be, since Sparks seemed like the type of band that would be right up your alley, mostly due to your appreciation of humorous quirkier bands like They Might Be Giants or music that’s a bit more on the theatrical side. The first time I first became aware of them was when I learned that the Weird Al song, “Virus Alert” was done as a Sparks pastiche and thus I was intrigued to check out there stuff. If you’re interested in checking out more of their stuff, I’d recommend their third and fourth albums, Kimono My House and Propaganda, both from 1974, as a good starting point. They’re not on Spotify, so you’ll have to look for them elsewhere. From there, I’d highly recommend 2002’s Lil Beethoven and 2006’s Hello Young Lovers, which sees them in their more classical inspired chamber pop phase. Other strong albums include their electronic disco album, No. 1 in Heaven, and Angst in my Pants, which might be their only good 80s album.

For me, the album is probably in the lower 4 range. This is mostly due to me already having a bit of an idea of what to expect due to being a little more familiar with both group’s previous work and because I had already heard Piss Off and Collaborations Don’t Work as singles/previews before the entire album had been released. So there was less room for surprise for me. Of course I also hadn’t quite acquainted myself with the bonus tracks either.

Anyways, I look forward to listening to more of your reviews, and will likely suggest another some time in the future. Of course now that I’m two for two, I might end up suggesting something really challenging or off the wall and crazy. We’ll see. Also, good luck on having to tackle The Life of Pablo.